A Cedar Hill police officer who was burned while subduing a burglary suspect who lit himself on fire visited with friends and colleagues Friday.

Officer Ann McSwain was released from the hospital last week after undergoing several surgeries and skin grafts for the third degree burns on her legs and arm.

On Friday she walked around with bandaged legs, hugging and eating lunch with other officers, and talking about the day she was burned.

McSwain was injured July 9 when she and two detectives pursued a burglary suspect into a Wingstop near Beltline and U.S. Highway 67 in Cedar Hill. Police say Terrance Jarmell Dunn soaked himself in gasoline and lit himself on fire while the three officers were on top of him.

"When I saw the flames come up to my face," McSwain said, "that's when I knew I had to get out of there."

McSwain and Dunn ran into the parking lot where Spencer Stroud was standing with his friend. Stroud immediately took off his shirt and ran to help put out the fire that began to melt McSwain's clothes.

"I didn't think anyone was stupid enough to do that to themselves," said Stroud, whom McSwain calls her guardian angel.

The officer also remembers a similar disbelief as she rolled around the parking lot in intense pain and watched as sheets of her skin fell off.

Both McSwain and the suspect were immediately rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Dunn remains in unknown condition. He was also shot as police subdued him.

Despite the trauma and the pain, McSwain is ready to get back to work, doing physical therapy and waiting for her skin to heal.

"I have been given so much during this that I have to give back," she said, "and I can't wait to get back in that uniform."